Hey everyone. I'm just starting Warhammer and am playing first fun game against a friend who is also playing for the first time. He has gone with Tomb Kings. So here we go: Rare 3 x Salamander 3 x extra handler Special LV2 Skink Priest + Power stone + Plaque of Tepok Scar Vet + War Banner + Light Armour 12 x Chamo Skink Core 25 x Saurus w full command 12 x skink skirmisher Total: 999 Some questions: 1) Any way to effectively fit a Steg into a 1000 pt army 2) Any reason to ever pick Razordon over Salamander? Like the Stand and Shoot capability 3) Why the fascination with chamo skinks? Are they that useful? Thanks!
Ad 1. In 1000p army you can fit only normal ( non ancient, non riden by skink hero / priest) steg. I found it usefull against expensive troops with low S - in my case stegadon worked very well agains High Elves' Spearmens. Ad 2. Razadons may be usefull against armies with models on bigger stands, psychology immunity and low / no armour saves. On top of this list are Daemons of Chaos Ad 3. Charmelions BS 4 is very usefull because allows you to make move, double shot on long range with poison shots. Not to mention Scout deployment special rule ;-)
Just a few points about your army; - Power stones and the plaque of Tepok are both arcane items. Characters can only carry one of each type of magic item. If I were you I would take a dispel scroll, if used well they can change the fate of the game more than a power stone. - Your Scar-Vet must be the battle-standard bearer to carry a standard. This costs extra points but allows you to reroll failed Ld tests within range. However, it then means that he can't be your general so your squishy skink priest would have to take that role. Your call. - You would be better to split those chameleons into two units of 6. Putting all your eggs in one basket is risky and they work best as small, stealthy units. - Three salamanders seem like a lot. Some people swear by them, but like the chameleons it's best to field them separately. If I were you I would drop one of them and have two on their own. I'd then use those points to buy another unit of skink skirmishers.
I'd split the chameleon skinks into 2 separate units as well. You don't want them all to run to 1 round of shooting and they can threaten multiple units (or the same if there's a big one you want to take out). The fascination with them is they really are our best way of killing war machines or big monsters. a unit of 6 gets 12 poisoned shots hitting on 4's (if they don't move/short range). If you roll _slightly_ above average and get 3 poisoned wounds, that'll take out a war machine. I don't think I'd ever field a steggie in a 1000 point army. He's a big investment and can be too easily taken out if the other guy takes 1 cannon or 2 bolt throwers. I don't remember if the TK catapult is D6 or D3. He does on the other hand, draw a LOT of fire, so he's always good to have in a game to draw fire away from your units. Razordons do have their uses. In my tourney lists i tend to take 1 (and 2-3 salamanders) just in case. They work good as mentionned against Demons, and do great against minotaurs, ogres, bloodcrushers, etc. Any high toughness (well, T4 or T5) multi-wound units (salamanders can't kill a multi-wound model outright). If they get charged, they can do a scary amount of damage on the stand and shoot, but the "if you roll one misfire, you lose both dice" kinda sucks. With only one unit of warriors for the BSB to go in, I think making him the BSB and the skink priest your general is fine since the Saurus unit would be using the BSB's leadership anyway.
Thanks for the advice. Especially on splitting the champ skinks Question on the BSB. Why is it more points? Because I have to pay for the banner? Also if I put the BSB in my Saurus unit, do I still need a standard bearer? Also, in this set up my Scar Vet is my highest leadership character. By the rules then, does he have to be the general thus ruling him out as BSB?
Your scarvet can be your BSB, that makes your priest is the highest Ld character out of those eligible to be the general (so, not the BSB). It costs some points to make a character the BSB, there's a little section about it in the army list. Your unit can still have a standard bearer and in that case it would get +1 combat resolution for it's own standard and an additional +1 for the battle standard as well.
I think he was saying you forgot to pay to make him the BSB. If he has the war banner it's actually +3 with the other one in the unit +1 for the unit banner +1 for BSB +1 for War banner. The BSB rule overrides the highest leadership rule since a BSB cannot be a general. so the skink has to be the general since he's the only non-BSB character in your army.